1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shake correction apparatus of a camera.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Shake correction apparatuses (shake reduction systems/image stabilizers) for use in cameras using an image pickup device as an imaging sensor are usually provided with a first stationary support plate fixed to an internal surface of a camera body, a second stationary support plate substantially parallel to the first stationary support plate, and a stage plate positioned between the first and second stationary support plates. The front of the stage plate supports the image pickup device via an electrical board, and the stage plate can move relative to the first and second stationary support plates while maintaining a substantially parallel state relative to the first and second stationary support plates. Additionally, a plurality of stage-member-driving magnets are fixed to a surface of the first stationary support plate which faces the stage plate, while a plurality of drive coils are fixed to a flexible PCB (printed circuit board) integral with the stage plate so as to face the plurality of stage-member-driving magnets in the forward/rearward direction of the camera, respectively.
In this type of shake correction apparatus, passing currents through the drive coils at the occurrence of camera shake caused by hand shake causes each drive coil, through which a current is passed, to produce a driving force for moving the electrical board and the image pickup device. Thereupon, the image pickup device moves in directions to offset the camera shake to thereby correct image shake of an image captured by the image pickup device.
An example of this type of shake correction apparatus of a camera is disclosed in Japanese unexamined patent publication 2006-108956.
When the stage plate to which the image pickup device is mounted is driven to move slidingly through the use of magnetic forces produced by magnets, the following problem occurs. Namely, a great number of leads (signal wires) made of a magnetic material are installed in the periphery of the image pickup device and are electrically connected to an electrical board. However, the leads are bare and therefore may be influenced by magnetic forces produced by the magnets. Accordingly, if the leads are influenced by the magnetic forces, the stage plate (the leads) are attracted toward the magnets thereby, which causes some trouble in the shake-correction performance of the stage plate.